A.C. Grayling, one of Britain's foremost philosophers and public intellectuals. An extraordinarily wide-ranging writer, Grayling has written plays, he's written works of technical philosophy and he's written about great philosophers: including books on Berkeley, Russell and Wittgenstein and a biography of René Descartes More recently, he's turned his attention to historical topics, with a book on the Allied bombing of civilians in WWII, and that's one of the issues that we discuss with him today: what is the role of the philosopher in assessing the moral validity of the Allies' prosecution of the war against barbarism?

Thailand's democracyThe tale of two citiesOver the past ten years Australian cities and towns have faced water shortages and water restrictions, yet Singapore, which once imported 80 per cent of its water, has become self sufficient. Are there any lessons Australian cities can learn from Singapore?

Babies at risk?Figures show that the number of babies taken from mothers at birth is rising dramatically, particularly in NSW. Judgments must err on the side of child safety, but there's concerns some babies are taken needlessly. One couple is suing for $18 million.

The crime geneConvicted murderer Abdulmalek Bayout recently made legal history when a court in Italy reduced his sentence because it accepted that Bayout was genetically predisposed to being aggressive and violent! Controversial...well it gets worse...the so-called crime gene is more prevalent in some racial groups than others!